Microsoft Raises Windows XP Custom Support Prices as EOL Nears

There are a lot companies still having Windows XP in their production environment and it seems unlikely that they will able to meet the deadline to shift to one of the other version of Windows. Microsoft, knowing that there are still 43 per cent of systems on Windows XP, may very well take advantage of the situation and try to earn a little extra cash by increasing the custom support prices.

According to an analyst, Microsoft will negotiate with companies individually about custom support plans, if they intend to continue using an operating system officially declared dead. There are quite a few companies which will not be able to meet the deadline and for those, Microsoft revealed significantly higher prices for custom tech support in the future.

Price hikes may be an attempt to force enterprises to migrate to newer software platforms or at least to make some money in the process, as Microsoft provided free assistance for Windows XP for almost 12 years now.

Migrating to a newer software platform or pay for custom tech support will not be easy for businesses, neither inexpensive, as Michel Silver, an analyst at Gartner said: “Microsoft may be trying to train [enterprises] with these high custom support prices, but I don’t think [enterprises] will really change.”